Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Contest

Hong Jian had already reached the eastern side of the base. He stood in dirty wastewater and stared at the screen relaying the sky.

On it, the hawk hovered high above the clouds, golden eyes locked on Jin Ling Base. It looked ready to strike at any moment.

“It got bigger,” Hong Jian said quietly.

Far to the east, Wang Jie ran toward the place where the hawk had screeched.

Before long, he saw it.

An enormous eagle nest, wedged among collapsed high-rises like a crown of thorns.

The nest was woven from branches, tangled into a complex, layered mass.

Wang Jie didn’t hesitate. He reached it and grabbed a branch to climb.

A sharp whistle tore past his ear.

Wang Jie slammed his palm into the nest, using the rebound to jerk himself backward. At the same time, he stepped his left foot onto his right and spun, catching another branch.

A dark blur sliced through where he’d been and severed the branch he’d almost held.

Wang Jie turned.

Countless dark shapes swirled through the air, diving toward him.

Mutant hummingbirds.

Small. Fast. Capable of ripping a person to pieces.

Wang Jie abandoned the climb and dropped instead, body falling at extreme speed.

The hummingbirds chased, streaking downward like knives.

Even in midair, Wang Jie twisted and shifted, dodging left and right with impossible precision.

Watching from below, Lian Fei’s eyes narrowed in surprise.

As the daughter of Lian Qin—one of the Five Poles—she’d seen many experts. But someone who could evade a swarm of hummingbirds in midair like this?

That was rare.

Her mother could kill these birds easily, but dodging like that while falling? That was hard.

Who was he?

The nest blocked the moonlight, plunging the area into darkness.

At first, Wang Jie didn’t realize anyone else was here. Only when hummingbirds darted toward the ruins on the far side did he spot movement.

More than ten people were hiding beneath broken concrete.

One face stood out—a young man from the South Base hunting squad.

So they were here too.

Wang Jie hit the ground and immediately ran in another direction.

Because he was alone, small, and fast, the hummingbirds abandoned him and turned toward the larger group.

“Brother, wait!” someone shouted. “Team up! We can deal with these hummingbirds together!”

Wang Jie didn’t slow. In a blink, he was gone.

“Damn it,” someone cursed. “He won’t cooperate.”

“Hummingbirds are tricky,” another snapped. “Deal with them first.”

“What about the little hawks? If he gets inside the nest, he might steal them.”

Lian Fei’s cold, beautiful face turned toward the direction Wang Jie had vanished. “Hold the hummingbirds. I’ll go.”

“No, Miss—he’s strong.”

Someone tried to stop her.

Lian Fei jumped out anyway. “Senior Sister will arrive soon. Tell her to go straight into the nest to find me. I’ll hold him.”

With that, she chased after Wang Jie.

Hummingbirds tried to follow her, but the others intercepted, drawing them away.

With the swarm pulled off, Wang Jie didn’t have to waste effort fighting them.

He looked up. Hummingbirds still swarmed in that direction. Even if you could kill them all, it would take time.

He didn’t have time.

The hawk had evolved. If Hong Jian couldn’t stop it, Jin Ling Base would fall.

Wang Jie climbed fast, fingers and feet moving like a machine. He reached the upper rim of the nest and looked down.

His eyes lit.

So that was it.

No wonder the hawk had been clearing its territory.

Three little hawks lay inside.

“Little” was a lie—each one was still bigger than a person. The hummingbird chaos had startled them awake. They gaped their beaks and cried for food.

Wang Jie stared at them, jaw tight.

Kill them, and the hawk would go insane.

Leave them, and he had no leverage.

Mutant beasts were hard to tame.

Especially eagles.

In the old world, hawks could be trained with patience.

In the apocalypse? Who could tame something like this?

Even the Five Poles couldn’t, could they?

He looked west. Through distance and haze, he could faintly see Jin Ling Base burning with battle.

But the hawk still hadn’t struck.

Wang Jie’s gaze sharpened.

Wait.

He would wait until the hawk fought Hong Jian.

If he acted on the little hawks now, the hawk might return immediately—and then Wang Jie would be the one fighting it to the death.

Movement stirred nearby.

Wang Jie turned.

A woman climbed onto the nest’s edge. Under the moonlight, her pale face looked even colder, her eyes locked on him.

Wang Jie reflexively pulled black cloth up to cover his face.

“Who are you?” Lian Fei demanded. “You’re hiding your face, and I don’t remember anyone in Jin Ling Base with movement skills like yours.”

Wang Jie lowered his voice. “No one’s protecting you. Aren’t you afraid I’ll kill you?”

Lian Fei sneered. “You’re fast. Dodging hummingbirds in midair is impressive. That doesn’t mean you’re strong.”

Her gaze sharpened. “People from the Ji Xia hunting squad don’t get scared.”

Wang Jie lifted a brow. Ji Xia hunting squad?

No wonder she was arrogant.

Among Hua Xia’s hunting squads, Ji Xia was top-tier—because it only recruited the rising young generation of the last few years. Many were descendants of the Three Gods and Five Poles. Anyone even slightly older wasn’t wanted.

And the leader of the Ji Xia hunting squad was Bai Xiao—Bai Yuan’s daughter.

With Bai Yuan backing her, plus Bai Xiao’s own ability and beauty, she’d drawn nearly every top young expert in Hua Xia under her banner.

Ji Xia’s slogan was simple: Hua Xia’s future.

Right now, Hua Xia was ruled by the Three Gods and Five Poles.

But in the future, it would be ruled by Ji Xia.

To join, background wasn’t enough. Strength had to be real.

Wang Jie didn’t move.

On the surface, he was facing off with Lian Fei. In truth, his attention stayed on the distance.

The moment the hawk clashed with Hong Jian, he would act.

Lian Fei frowned. “You look young,” she pressed. “Tell me who you are. I can introduce you. You could join Ji Xia.”

Wang Jie gave her nothing.

Lian Fei kept talking—threats, then temptation, then threats again.

Wang Jie still didn’t react.

Then she stopped.

Wang Jie’s eyes sharpened.

She was stalling.

The South Base had been hunting Hu Guan. They wouldn’t come without real experts—at minimum, a sixth-seal powerhouse.

With that thought, Wang Jie lunged.

Lian Fei’s eyes widened. She snapped her arm up—sleeve darts shot out.

Wang Jie dodged.

Lian Fei flipped her hand and drew a white ruler. Imprint power surged, and the ruler spat white light as it slashed toward him.

Wang Jie stepped right with his right foot—

But his body appeared on the left.

He stepped left with his left foot—

And he was already behind her.

Lian Fei struck empty air, shock flashing across her face. What kind of movement was that?

Bang.

She collapsed.

Wang Jie withdrew his hand. He’d knocked her unconscious.

Then he looked toward Jin Ling Base.

A white blade light shot into the sky like an inverted meteor.

Hong Jian had made his move.

With a shriek, the hawk dove. Its claws tore through the blade light as it charged toward Jin Ling Base.

Wang Jie exhaled.

It was time.

He stepped to the three little hawks. A half-eaten male corpse lay beside them. The chicks fed on human flesh and blood.

Standing in the gore, Wang Jie grabbed one chick by its feathers and yanked hard.

A shrill cry erupted, sharp enough to carry into the distance.

Below the nest, the hummingbird swarm instantly fell into chaos. They abandoned the cultivators and rushed back toward the nest.

The people below, worried about Lian Fei, tried to intercept the hummingbirds, fighting desperately to hold them back.

Wang Jie ripped feather after feather from the chicks.

Their cries grew more frantic, more desperate.

At Jin Ling Base, Hong Jian leapt into the air and met the hawk head-on.

One Blade—Wind-Rending Eight Blades.

Wild winds roared around him, lifting him higher as if the storm itself carried him.

His first slash crashed into the hawk’s claws. A terrifying shockwave exploded outward, forming a white blast wave that slammed into the ground.

Hong Jian clenched his blade. Blood seeped from the web between thumb and forefinger. Gritting his teeth, he turned seven streams of imprint power into seven tornadoes, forcing his body forward as he slashed again.

The hawk reared back to strike—

Then it heard something.

It turned its head east.

Hong Jian’s blade landed on its leg and severed it cleanly. Blood sprayed across the sky.

The hawk flapped wildly and tried to flee east. Hong Jian’s second slash followed, winds howling. The blade light crossed a hundred meters and snapped one wing.

Once Wind-Rending Eight Blades began, it was hard to interrupt unless Hong Jian stopped.

One Blade after another followed—wind as momentum, blade as step, man thrown forward like wildfire spreading.

Hong Jian barely needed to move his feet. Each slash flung him closer.

Inside Jin Ling Base, countless cultivators stared up in awe.

They saw Hong Jian’s blade chop into the hawk again and again. The hawk screamed in agony, but its golden eyes stayed locked on the east.

When the eighth slash fell, it struck the hawk’s head.

The blade took the hawk’s head clean off.

Blood rained from the sky.

After the final slash, Hong Jian’s body went slack and fell.

Below him, the rat tide surged.

Hooks shot out from the wall. One latched onto Hong Jian and dragged him back toward the city.

With the hawk dead, the beast tide hesitated.

Then many mutant beasts scattered and fled.

To the east, inside the nest, Wang Jie didn’t know the hawk was dead.

He only did what he could to interfere.

Now that he’d committed, it was time to leave.

Hummingbirds darted in. Wang Jie dodged and struck, killing the three little hawks. He harvested hawk blood, feathers, and other disaster materials.

If those chicks grew up, they would become another calamity.

He was about to go—

Then he noticed something beneath them.

An egg.

Wang Jie’s eyes lit up. He grabbed it and retreated.

Not long after he left, the South Base hunting squad climbed up and saw the corpses of the little hawks in the nest. Their faces drained of color.

They searched and found Lian Fei.

When they confirmed she was alive, they finally exhaled.

“Carry Miss and leave!” someone barked. “The chicks are dead. If the hawk comes back, none of us will survive!”

They hauled Lian Fei away.

By then, Wang Jie was already far off with the warm egg tucked against his chest.

The hummingbirds no longer chased him.

As he ran, Wang Jie thought grimly: if Hong Jian still couldn’t stop the hawk, then he would smash this egg in front of it.

He could only hope Jin Ling Base would survive.

To the west, inside Jin Ling Base, Hong Jian was dragged into the city.

His whole body was limp, but he’d killed the hawk.

“The beast tide hasn’t retreated,” someone reported. “We thought the beasts would scatter after the hawk died, but something else is still driving them.”

Hong Jian had them bring him to the wall. He stared down at the battlefield where killing never stopped.

Tens of thousands of cultivators fought outside the gate. Something really was still pushing the tide.

Hong Jian tried to stand.

He couldn’t.

“Tell every cultivator in the city,” he said hoarsely. “If the wall breaks, none of us live. Fight like your life depends on it.”

“Yes!”

Just then, streak after streak of fire-red light ripped through the sky and slammed into the beast tide with thunderous booms.

Each impact exploded into flame, swallowing mutant beasts across dozens of meters.

Hong Jian’s face changed as he stared into the distance.

That power…

Terrifying.